Trip to Panajachel

Hola a todos,

Last weekend it was time for another trip, so today it's time for another update! (which is delayed, because my internet doesn't work..). We went to Panajachel with the same group as last time, and 2 colleagues of one of us.

The trip
We were planning to go by bus, so we met at 5 o'clock in the morning and went to the office of the bus company only to find out the company had informed us wrongly and we had to go to another neighbourhood very quickly in order to be in time for the bus, and of course we weren't... So only one option was left, a chicken bus.. Chicken buses are the most notorious way of transport in Guatemala, they are old American (school) buses that look really beautiful from the inside (very colourful and often decorated with some kind of graffiti), but you'd prefer not to have to enter as there is no limit to the number of people that can enter the bus, so it can get pretty stuffed. Fortunately we were quite early and we could conquer the back seats and we had to share our 2-person seat with a third person only the last half hour or so. For the rest the trip went quite smoothly, for a large part it was the same road as the one to Xela (last week's destination) and in the last kilometers we could look over the lake of Atitlán, a very nice view.

Panajachel
Once arrived we checked in to our very nice hotel (for which I and two others had won a free room for a night) and we met three of us who were already there. Then we walked around the town, a very relaxed place with lots of Argentinean hippies (don't ask me why) and even more Mayas that try to sell you stuff all the time. After a while it gets quite annoying, but it also made me realise how unfair life is in Guatemala. The indigenous population is in a very bad position and often have a visibly bad health. Children from age 3 are sent onto the streets to sell stuff (clothes, dolls, toys etc., all handmade and very colourful), we could make them extremely happy by giving them some food. As management student, I cannot really understand though, how they can sustain themselves financially while dozens of others are selling exactly the same stuff and they are not organised at all, if you are sitting at a terrace for an hour, at least 5 people come by and they all offer the same thing.. Guess it's not in their culture, but I see room for improvement (like dividing the market in types of products or different areas, I can't imagine that the Guatemalan antitrust laws are actually carried out here, unlike practically all the other laws).

Lago Atitlán
The lake of Atitlán is really one of the most beautiful sceneries I have ever seen (but it can't still beat Kapadokya), it is a very big lake surrounded by volcanoes and regular mountains. After having settled in the hotel and walking through Panajachel's main street we went to the shore of the lake to negotiate with the boat owners about a price. In the end one boat owner agreed to take us to 2 other villages next to the lake for €5.90 per person and we took off. On the way to the other side of the lake we enjoyed some spectacular views (of which I couldn't take pictures unfortunately, because I forgot the battery of my camera in the hotel, so I'll have to go back to take some pictures) and once arrived we were immediately offered more Mayan handcraft, but we resisted and went on to have some breakfast/lunch. After a visit to this village (Santiago Atitlán) some of us took a dip in the lake after which we continued to the other village (San Antonio) where we met the last member of our group and enjoyed an even better view over the lake. Finally we returned to Panajachel to relax, have dinner and party.

The next day
The next day we slept in and then found out that the last bus would leave at 14:30 already, so we had only a few hours left, which we spent having breakfast and appreciating the view. Then it was time to return to Guatemala Ciudad, again by chicken bus.. It was probably the most horrible trip I've ever had. From the beginning I had to sit with 3 people on the 2-person seat and after half an hour my neighbour (whom I didn't know) fell asleep, on my shoulder.. So for three hours I had to see the bus driver some ridiculously dangerous moves on the small mountain roads while not being able to move because of some sleeping guy.. You imagine that I was happy to arrive safely in Guatemala and be able to stretch my muscles. We had dinner at Pizza Hut (might have been the first time in 10 years that I had dinner at Pizza Hut) and went home. Once home we heard that there would be a Procession of the local church, which is accompanied by lots of fireworks, so that was fun too see. The ceremony in the church afterwards was quite impressive (mostly the music), especially compared to the relatively boring services in the Dutch churches.

I guess that is enough for now. I will upload some pictures soon (but you might have to wait a few months for pictures from the lake - I have some of the lake, but not from the lake - , because I still have to take them)!

Pieter